We are working furiously at a snail's pace on this bathroom; furiously for about 2 hours every Saturday and that's about it. It's gutted, we've got the new door in (a pocket door for space-saving efficiency) and a general idea of where things go. Some things have been ordered and are on their way. Others we're waffling on. We're not exactly efficient on this project.

I've been mentally writing and rewriting posts for the past month and a half. I'm stuck in my mind on the current shape of politics. I want to write, I want to speak out for my beliefs, yet I still have no words. One day I will have the words, one day I will put them all here.

We've demolished one of the full baths, combined it with the closet from the master bedroom, and are figuring out a plan to redo the bath on a moderate budget. (Ideas abound, continue to be pinned.) We also bought a vintage camper at a great deal. We've named him Major Tom (....here am I sitting in a tin can...) As is usually the case, the work is more extensive than we'd thought, but hey! Why not 2 major projects all at once? It is, after all, 2017: the Year of the Distractions.

I'd be remiss without mentioning the significance of Martin Luther King Jr Day (today). I was going to put a quote or some sort of image with his words here. I don't think it's fair to distill his work (and so many others) to a Pinterest worthy spectacle. Instead, take a moment to read the lengthy summary of Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?

Apparently the works-in-progress are far more pervasive than a bathroom redo.

Now that we're entering prime shopping season, I want to introduce you to some of my favorites! Trista Hudzik Pottery has been at the Handmade Market the past few times I've done the show and her bright colors always grab my attention.

I was hoping to keep my blog updates rotating between art, gardening, and ideas I support, but today I want to interject a bit about what's going on around our home (and what's keeping my brain busy).

(image from Wikipedia, listed as Creative Commons)

We live on a main road in our town, and as "progress" happens, roads get bigger. C and I knew that would happen, we braced for it, accepted it, and were basically ready to lose about a lane's worth of property to the front of our house. Recently, though, the next phase of the design was released and we learned the scope of land loss would be much larger.

The road will be drastically changed. What is now a main road through a small town will become a thoroughfare. In the simplest terms, that upsets me. It will destroy the charm of the town, the walkability, and harm the core of independently owned businesses in Matthews.

NCDOT unveiled the plan and gave the public about 4 weeks to leave feedback on it. So I started asking around to get a feel for what others thought about it. Guess what? Nobody knew, or if they did, they had no idea about the actual design.

So that's what I've been doing: talking to a lot of people; emailing a lot of people; facebooking (that's a verb, right?) a lot of people. If I had a better idea of tags on twitter I'd be doing that, too.

Wish us luck!

{And if you are in the area and want to get involved, shoot me a note and I'll get you some flyers.}

It's hard to imagine my life without gardening. It's an activity I half-heartedly dabbled in through my early 20s, and after college, when I moved back to East John St, I became interested in learning to care for the plants my grandparents planted. I *think* I picked up Gayla Trail's book You Grow Girl t the now defunct Borders Books (RIP) and immediately absorbed it and the companion website. Gayla taught me just how to organically care for the greenery around and convinced me to try my hand at growing veggies!

I've followed her work ever since. To say she's formed and informed me is an understatement; her work has been instrumental in introducing gardening to new generations.

Now Gayla, and her partner Davin, are working on a new project called Grow Curious. Check out their kickstarter and let's help get this new project off the ground! #growcurious